On a weekend trip to Dadaepo, my friends and I were lucky to catch the Sunset Fountain of Dream. It’s large, a circular operation with seating and a helpful attendee will usher you away from the main splash zone.

This is the Vegas of fountains, with colored lights and water splashing in synch with pumping K-Pop and hits of the 80s and 90s. A key highlight was watching the rainbow streams dance to “I will always love you”. At the most impressive point in the song the central water stream leaped high into the air, as if propelled by Whitney Houston’s impressive vocal abilities.

This was the first fountain I had seen that ultizes colored lights to create rainbow effects, offset against the dark night sky. The cheesy music adds some extra awesomeness. An enjoyable experience, and it doesn’t go on too long.

Best for: Cheese factor

Look at 'er go!

2) Lotte Fountain, Nampo

Centum City may have the world’s largest department store, but Lotte in Nampo has the world’s largest cascading fountain. What’s a cascading fountain you ask? Well, this means that the water drops from the ceiling to the smallish fountain below. The top of the fountain is positioned four stories above the food court, in front of a multicoloured, glowing honeycomb structure.

With the ability to drop water from the ceiling with military precision, this fountain is able to spell out words in water droplets, which then drop to the ground. The effect is both impressive and mystifying. Never before have I seen a fountain spell out the words ‘Lotte’ and ‘Welcome to Busan’ in both English and Hanguel. This show only lasts ten minutes, and is on every hour, so it’s a good opportunity to hang in the Lotte food court before pounding the pavements of Nampo.

Best for: WOW factor, and also bragging rights for seeing the largest indoor cascading fountain.

3) Busan Station

Most visitors to the fair city of Busan will enter by KTX to Busan Station. Thankfully, you will be able to identify that you are in Busan due to the large structure outside the station which spells out, quite accurately, ”Welcome to Busan”. This fountain is large, consisting of two round pools filled with water, that are set across the spacious train station forecourt. There are light structures circling the fountain and sprays of water, but less synchronicity than other fountains.

I killed some time here waiting for a friend watching people take photos of the fountain, themselves in front of the fountain and their kids in front of the fountain. In summer, it’s more of a pool than a fountain, people wade through it and are sprayed cheerfully.

Best for: Summer sprays and photo opportunities

4) Gwangali Beach

On the southern side of Gwangali Beach (towards Beached Bar) there is a cement block set into the beach, just where the waves break. I thought it was a disused pylon for a second Diamond Bridge, but at 9 o’clock, it turns into a fountain. Sea water sprays from the side of the concrete block and a laser projects shapes and pictures onto the spray of water. You watch a bird flying in front of a setting sun and stylised waves crash on a shore.

Best for: Beach multimedia installation

5) Trevi Fountains, Nampo, Seomyeon and Centum City

The first time I went to Centum City I was impressed by the white ediface which is a monument to the Trevi Fountain in Rome. So much so, I took more photos there than I did at the real Trevi Fountain in Rome and posted some on Facebook. Look how amazing it is! A Trevi fountain copy! So, it was only after I had been here for a few months, and went to all three locations that I realised the Baroque splendor of the fountain wasn’t unique to Centum City. There are three, and counting, in Busan. But then, is three more or less sensible than one. It’s a bit of head scratcher for me, why re-create the Trevi fountain at all? But then, there are two re-creations of Prague’s 14th century Astronomical Clocks, why not three re-creations of the Trevi fountain.

* Between March and April, October and November
Weekdays (Tuesday – Friday): Fixed Fountain 12:00, 13:00, 16:00, 17:00 (20minutes)/ Music Fountain 20:00 (30 minutes)
Saturday, Sunday and National Holidays: Fixed Fountain: Same as the weekday schedule/ Music Fountain 19:00, 20:00

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ANNOUNCEMENTS / CLOSURES

**3/21/2014: Matahari is now closed???**12/5/2013: I make cake cafe in Haeundae: Closed?
**11/30/2013: super bummer: BBQ camp (seomyeon) appears to be closed. unconfirmed.
**8/5/2013: Painted Chair Cafe Gallery in Kyungsung: Closed? Can someone please confirm? Shoot us an email!
**3/26/2013: Loving Hut Seomyeon is now closed but there is a new Nampodong location
** 2/26/13: Ayuta in KSU is now a poker place.
**2/3/2013: I know this is late, but CAUTION before you go to the CAVE BAR... It's not what it used to be. New menu, very expensive, but still is in a cave, and still serves dongdongju, as far as I know.
** 2/1/2013: The Box in PNU is now a curry resturant